I’m lucky. I wasn’t the least bit interested in last night’s game so I missed all the “fun.” A rematch in two weeks, IN Pittsburgh? What’re they gonna do, bring the National Guard out for that one?
I’m not sure if 6 years ago counts as recent, but the suspension was for the attempt and for ripping the helmet off his head. Even your cited article notes the attempt failed, with the swing “barely missing”.
Trying to use a helmet as a weapon by itself should be subject to disciplinary action but the penalty for an actual strike should go beyond that.
It’s pretty fair for there to be a bigger outcry if the helmet actually connects rather than a close whiff.
Garrett suspended “indefinitely.”
Generally pro-sports-speak for “a length of time to be determined later.”
Time flies.
Watch the video. I thought he actually made contact with Incognito when I saw it. If he missed, and still got suspended. Good. EDIT: And one was in a preseason game, between two lineman, one of whom was a top candidate for Biggest Asshole in the League; and the other was under the bright lights of a night game, against a quarterback, at the end of a game remarkable for its dirty play. 2019 has a different social media impact than 2013 too. Again, I’m happy that Garrett is gone for the rest of the year. I just don’t agree with the sense of outrage.
In other news, as DC noted, Garrett’s out indefinitely, but at least all year including the postseason, and needs to beg Goodell for his job back. I imagine it will happen with sufficient grovelling this offseason.
Pouncey’s out 3 games, Ogunjobi’s out 1. Fines too. Both teams fined a quarter million each. No word in the article about individual fines on top of this. Nothing so far for Rudolph trying to pull on Garrett’s helmet at the start of the whole fracas, but it’s early. Kitchens still not fired. Which is unfortunate.
All good though. Let’s get back to playing football.
I think the outrage comes partially from breaking a big rule that players almost always follow… Things get physical, crazy even, but once a helmet is off you’re supposed to stop and back off. Not only did that not happen, but the helmet was removed intentionally, then used as a weapon against the unprotected head. It’s one escalation after another all in one event.
And you know from the league’s perspective the fact that Rudolph is a QB (and a starting one at that, at least for now) is going to make this worse. Right or not, the QB is an especially protected position in the NFL and I think if Garrett did this to, say, an offensive guard he tussled with it would not be as big of a deal. Still a big deal but not quite as much. Even pushing “forcibly” against a QB’s helmet with your hand (not even enough to injure) is a personal foul now.
Not that I actually think this was in the NFL’s thought process at all when allocating responsibility and penalties for this incident, but if Rudolph were to have been suspended for grabbing at Garrett’s helmet or striking Garrett in the groin, how likely does that make Pittsburgh want to give Kaepernick a try at QB?
Rudolph got mad at Garrett and tried to grab his helmet. Garrett ripped off his helmet but he still came at him. He got struck in the head and was unfazed. Rudolph is like the perfect Steeler QB, isn’t he?
Oh I agree, but see, Andre Johnson vs Cortland Finnegan. (Whole lot of Texans in these clips I keep finding. LOL.) They at least had the self control to not use the damned thing as a weapon.
QBs are different. The only game on that day makes it different. Swinging at the guy with the helmet—and connecting!—makes it different. And it’s a different era with respect to the attention paid to player safety. Which is why the NFL keeps floating an 18-game season, but I digress…
I do think that if Garrett clocked him with the hard crown of the helmet, and Rudolph went down like Rudy T did to Kermit Washington’s punch, that Garrett would be in jail for agg. assault, and would be out of the League forever. Thank God that didn’t happen.
On a related note there is now a GoFundMe to pay for Pouncey’s fine.
(I’m linking to a story about the funding site, not the site itself.)
I still think what Pouncey did was horrid and he deserved his suspension, but I get why fans are supporting the guy.
Yeah, that started it. Not the hit, twist to the ground, and holding Rudolph down long after the play had moved on.
I just watched a good replay video.
Yeah, an arguably late take-down by Garret (not particularly violent but not super-gentle). IMHO, barely possibly a roughing the passer.
Then Rudolph tries to pull Garret’s helmet off. Garrett retaliates by succeeding in pulling Garret’s helmet off (in a more violent and dangerous way). At that point Garret is being pushed away with 600+ lbs of Steeler between him and Rudolph. So helmetless Rudolph naturally jumps in for more, gets clonked and immediately backs up and turns to the ref asking for a penalty.
I’m not saying hitting someone with a helmet is OK, or that Garret shouldn’t be suspended, but I kind of feel Rudolph deserves a little bit of whatever headache he has today.
He’s not blameless, but in the eyes of the NFL he’s a QB.
I don’t care if it’s heat of the moment. Swinging a helmet with bad intentions at a guy not wearing a helmet is potential manslaughter. Assuming he’s been a clean player up to this point, I’m inclined to say he deserves a shot at redemption, but until then, he should be suspended the rest of this year and well into next year. I couldn’t believe what I saw.
He hasn’t been a clean player, his record has been spotty all season. He was fined for punching Delanie Walker (Titans TE) and then he got fined twice for late hits on Trevor Siemian when he was the starting QB for the Jets. The second hit resulted in an ankle injury that ended his season. The fines before this latest incident were already more than $50,000. So no, not clean.
He’s definitely suspended for the rest of the season (though he’s reportedly planning to appeal, of course) and aside from that his suspension is “indefinite”. Which could certainly carry into next year, or be forever. He will have to convince Goodell to let him play again.
I agree that Rudolph is not blameless in inciting the incident. He is clearly scrabbling to pull Garrett’s helmet off at the start of the whole thing and there’s no excuse for that. If it’s a late hit, Garrett will get flagged and possibly fined. He should not have escalated to “attempted helmet removal” and the fact that he was unsuccessful only somewhat mitigates it.
That said, Rudolph escalated to 4, while Garrett then turned the knob up to 11. I would have no objection if he never played a down of football again. If you can’t control yourself, fuck off.
Awful lot of helmet to helmet hits. At least some of the Browns seemed to be headhunting. Browns HC Kitchens: “Did I want them to get after their ass? Yes, I did, but that’s not fighting, that’s not after the whistle. Between the whistles, yes. I never condone fighting on a football field because that’s penalties”. So late hits, helmet to helmet - all good as long as they haven’t blown the whistle. Wouldn’t want a penalty.
I commented on that very thing last night; it’s like they forgot what year they were in. From what I saw, it didn’t look like targeting; it just looked like a team that doesn’t play with a lot of discipline. They were fortunate they caught Pittsburgh on an off night. I bet the Steelers slap the shit out of them two weeks from now.
Browns had a pretty brutal schedule the first half of the year, 2nd hardest. It was pretty unlucky for a team with a new head coach trying to find an identity ended up getting stuck with a murderer’s row like that.
The rest of the schedule:
Dolphins
@Steelers
Bengals
@Cardinals
Ravens
@Bengals
If they had the easy stretch of games in the first half of the schedule I think they’d be a winning team right now.
The offense is still dysfunctional and underperforming but the defense has been playing pretty great. I think it’s not too unlikely that they win 5 of those games, which puts them in the playoff picture at 9-7. Before you say the Ravens game is an obvious loss, the Browns beat them convincingly in Baltimore and they’re coming home. If the ravens drop a couple, that week 16 game could end up being a significant game that could determine the division winner.
The hit wasn’t late at all, but the way Garrett twisted him down can easily hyperextend a knee or bust an ankle. With eight seconds left in the game. When the play has already moved ten yards upfield. When the Browns were up by two touchdowns.
Rudolph deserves the fine he’s got coming. But to attempt to say he started the entire thing ignores the situation and what led up to his attempted helmet removal.
Lost in all the craziness at the end of the game is how dirty the Browns defense played:
Two wide receivers knocked out of the game with helmet-to-helmet hits (there was even no penalty called when two players hit Ju-Ju Smith-Schuster helmet to helmet on the same play), and one where the Steeler left the field bleeding from his ear.
A flag for blatant helmet to helmet hit on the QB after he had thrown the ball.
At least one other play where a Browns defender hit the QB in the helmet with their arm (no flag) which led Troy Aikman to say “I’ve seen flags for a lot less”.
It makes sense that the a browns are the most penalized team in the league. They are Dirty.